I don't know if I had ever thought of "Q-Less" as the series's first real foray into comedy, but now that you mention it, that seems like a good way to look at it.

Though nominally "official" or something, the greatest compendium of Trek fanwank is Decipher Inc.'s Star Trek Roleplaying Game's Mirror Universe sourcebook.  The whole book is one big fanwank, but the last chapter in particular where it offers all sorts of theories about what happens to famous Trek characters is a…

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Are you saying that's not indicative of grumpiness?

I agree with you completely re: Starfleet hearing on Q.

I remember enjoying both of these episodes more my first time through the series.  With "Q-less", the initial viewing where the statements about how this is no longer TNG carry more weight, and with "Dax" the first exposure to serious Trill/Symbiote information counts in its favor, regardless of the structure that…

As I said, I'm sure I'll get into this more next week, but most of my love for "Q-Less" comes from the fact that I hate almost all of TNG's Q episodes, and "Q-Less" serves as a wonderful subversion of so many of the things I hated about them.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm going to be one of the few strong defenders of "Q-less".

I believe "Siege of AR-588" also has Quark point out that the Ferengi have never engaged in large-scale war, never committed genocide, and never practiced slavery (though the latter would seem to be somewhat contradicted by other Trek sources), unlike humanity.  It's a great little moment that really gives pause to…

I'm not sure how much bigger Quark's role needs to be.  The level of character depth in his insistence on being called a "Host" rather than "Barkeep" is incredible.  And the fact that when he's anxious and alone he compulsively plays with the Dabo wheel is great, too.

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That's a good point that never occured to me before, drdarke.

Perhaps I'm recalling incorrectly, but I thought they established that he only gouged people who could afford it, while going so far as to sell food and medicine for cost to those without much money.  This also bothered me in "A Man Alone", since Ibudan is seen as such a hero by the Bajoran government, even though he…

But, but . . . !  Quark and Odo!  QUARK AND ODO!!!!!!

What continues to separate these early "formulaic" DS9 episodes from their counterparts int he other Trek series is the level of character and relationships going on in all of them.  "Captive Pursuit" would likely have been a tossed off TNG episode, but the character work for O'Brien elevates it beyond what its plot…

But I LOVE when he punches Q and declares "I'm not Picard!"

Ho boy, a pair of episodes that I just plain, old-fashioned *like*.  I don't have much to really expound upon in these, so I'll use "Babel" as an excuse to discuss something that I meant to bring up during "Emissary".  All too often in TNG (and seemingly every episode in Voyager), the technobabble was the solution to…

This may be self-aggrandizing (though with the new review being posted in just over twelve hours, who's still reading this?), but the support of my theory is very gratifying.  Thank you.

"Faith, Treachery, and the Great River" is one of the few episodes that can occasionally supplant "Pale Moonlight" as my favorite.

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